ARE YOU READY FOR THE COMING TRIALS?

PREPARE FOR DIFFICULTIES THROUGH THE WORD!

Psalm 119:49-56

Remember your word to your servant,

in which you have made me hope.

This is my comfort in my affliction,

that your promise gives me life.

The insolent utterly deride me,

but I do not turn away from your law.

When I think of your rules from of old,

I take comfort, O LORD.

Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,

who forsake your law.

Your statutes have been my songs

in the house of my sojourning.

I remember your name in the night, O LORD,

and keep your law.

This blessing has fallen to me,

that I have kept your precepts.

At this point, the writer is addressing his relationship to the Word while he is going through difficult times. He has placed his hope, his trust, upon the LORD in the midst of trials. He knows that there are times when he tends to forget the very Word that is his point of reference.

I love it, that he uses the word “remember”, for it is impossible to remember something that we have not known or seen before. We have seen it before, but again this psalm is reminding us that preparation comes before the trial.

Before the trial we need to have meditated upon the Word of God. We need to have learned the character of God, we need to have been exposed to the power of God, we need to have learned to trust the wisdom of God, and learned to understand and know the love of God.

Trials are always around the corner, so we need to know what God has promised to His children. We receive life through the Scriptures and we enjoy life because of the truths of the Bible.

The world lives according to totally different standards, and with earthly goals. All men without God live according to their own wisdom. Men will always look with contempt at the life of the believer who submits to the teaching of the Scriptures. The writer is resolved not to allow the mocking of those who live by other standards to drive him away from the Word. He knows that in the Word he will find comfort. It is interesting that the word comfort is the same one we find in the 23^rd Psalm.

Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

The Word of God should bring peace to the believer; it should bring certainty that there is nothing to fear because the LORD of the Word is in total control, both of the circumstances and of the people around us.

There is indignation that rises up toward the enemies of God in this section, but there is no desperation. The Scriptures have been the theme of this writer’s songs. A life of worship prepared him for times of distress. During sleepless nights, the Scriptures had been his comfort.

The reality of remembering and keeping the Law of the Lord has been a blessing. In fact, it is an ongoing blessing and source of peace for him.

The psalmist knows the importance of remembering and keeping the Word of God and that he is totally dependent on God to remind him daily, especially in times of great distress.

When I deal with difficulties, being able to remember God’s Word is a wonderful blessing, but God has also used fellow believers to remind me about the words of God during dark times. Meditating on and knowing the Scriptures prepares us to be an encouragement, a light to our brothers and sisters when they are going through trials. We have nothing more precious and more helpful than the Word of God, to give to those who are in need of comfort.

Maybe there is someone you know who needs to be comforted through the Word right now. God wants to use you to be a light for someone today!

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

        Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Are you wondering why you are going through difficulties? God wants you to be encouraged by His care, and thus prepared to comfort others through their trials!